I hope, but sadly believe it is possible you will find some other child who suffered from the priests to help you through this. I am a survivor of priest abuse. I come from a small town in Ct. with one church growing up and several years ago a second parish was opened. I thought about posting and asking but the town is still small and everyone knows everyone. My Mom was alive until recently and I could not put her in the middle of it--but now in looking back I think she knew something from some discussions with my father later in life--she was a fighter and probably would have been fighting them all with me. But now the abuser is quite old. I admire your courage and hopefully others come forward for you.

KMCINVAThank you for your kind words and encouragement. I am in my mid fifties, and just beginning to deal with it. I do not remember most of my childhood (sad but true) and I was thinking a little help from a fellow parishioner would help. Slim chance but worth the effort.

I too am in my mid 50's and began to face it 6 years ago. It has been hard. I have a therapist, psychiatrist, two support groups including SNAP. Everything helps, it just takes time--more than I ever imagined.

I was abused as a priest as well, in the 70s. The fact that he was a priest compounded the after effects. We expect more from priests and consequently, the damage they cause is magnified because they are supposed to be Men of God.

The journey of healing has been very rough. Fortunately, the guys here are useful. My priest came from Rhode Island. He had been caught abusing boys in his home state and then was sent to the Midwest to begin work on a PhD, but also to remove him from the environment. The prevailing thought at that time was that the abuse was situational, and if you remove the perp from the environment, he will end the behavior. That could not be more wrong.Best of luck in your quest for answer.

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